I mean, I really fucking love it… it’s part of language and language is a beautiful thing. In fact, George Carlin said much the same thing…

Recently, someone made a statement that made me realise that this point of view is another way in which I fall outside of the church approved way of thinking.

The louder a person shouts and cusses, the more insecure they are

Hmm… nope. I disagree. There is possibly a grain of truth behind some of it… the homophobe who’s denying their own sexuality, the bluster of an individual who knows they’re losing a debate and wants to drown out the other person. It a very certain type of person who shouts down others and language is not really part of that process as far as I’m concerned. Don’t get me wrong, language is powerful stuff. Words harm and inappropriate words, whatever the intent behind them, can harm most of all.

I’m not going to sit with a family and say, ‘sorry, your Dad’s fucked. We’re shit out of luck when it comes to his cocking cancer.’

That’s part of the framework of language, context creates content. I might turn to a co-worker after losing a patient and say ‘fucking cancer eh? what a load of bollocks’ and we’ll smile wryly and gather ourselves together and get on with it.

I think this point stands regardless of whether you’re swearing or using abbreviations or just trying to communicate effectively. Language requires thought and consideration to be useful, it’s a tool and even the finest of tools can be used to smash.

As someone who works with people as the main element of my job, I moderate my language massively when I’ve got my professional hat on. I try to avoid using language that might jar others even down to the mildest things… calling people ‘guys’, saying hell or blimey, It’s led to me being a bit fishwifey when in role. ‘Oh bums’ can often be heard echoing down a hallway when I’ve run a hoist over my foot.

At home, it’s a different matter altogether. The stream of cursing that flows is a thing of creative beauty, it’s like a form of poetry. Sometimes of course, it’s just me singing the Jeremy Cunt song¹ at the TV when the latest idiotic thing spews forth from his mouth.

Words can heal, shock, hurt, bring people together, push people away. I can tell you to fuck off and it can mean as many things as either of us want it to. It’s one of the reasons that dysphasia and brain injury are fascinating and horrific. You lose your language and you lose a connection to the world.

Language is what you make of it and I make swearing part of my creative use of that language within guidelines that society and myself have in place. I’ll say ‘oh bugger’ around children but I won’t say ‘cock it’. Those guidelines are moveable and dependent on the situation you find yourself in. Language is plastic and part of being accountable for the things that you say is an awareness of that.

This is my personal bloggity area where I burble about things that are fleetingly at the forefront of my mind. No-one has to read my words, but they are my words and don’t you dare put your moral framework over the top of that and then expect me to agree with you. If you honestly, truly believe that swearing is going to send someone to hell then we’ve really got no chance of meeting in any sort of middle ground. If you’d like me to moderate my language when we’re talking, sure… I’m flexible.